The former leader and his niece, UK MP Tulip Siddiqui, were sentenced in absentia for corruption in a land deal.
Judge Rabiul Alam of Dhaka’s Special Magistrates Court said on Monday that Hasina – who has been living in exile in India since being ousted in a rebellion last year – abused her power as prime minister in the transaction.
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Siddiq, an MP from the United Kingdom’s ruling Labor Party, was found guilty of corruptly influencing Hasina to help her mother – Sheikh Rehana, Hasina’s sister – and two siblings acquire plots in a government project in Dhaka.
Rehana, who reportedly no longer lives in Bangladesh, was sentenced in her absence to seven years in jail, with the three also fined 100,000 taka ($820), failing to pay which they will face an additional six months in jail, the court said.
Fourteen other people accused in the case were sentenced to five years in prison.
Anti-Corruption Commission prosecutor Khan Mainul Hasan said his team has details of Siddiq’s correspondence with Hasina’s principal secretary Salahuddin Ahmed, exposing his role in the case, news agency AFP reported.
“Tulip insisted that her aunt Sheikh Hasina allot plots for her mother and siblings, as she herself had taken three plots – one for herself and two for her children,” Hassan said. “She called (Ahmed), communicated through some encrypted apps, and also met him when she was in Dhaka.”
Allegations ‘politically motivated’
Hasina and Siddiq – who did not appoint lawyers to defend the charges – have rejected them as politically motivated.
Hasina, who was sentenced to death in absentia last month for crimes against humanity related to last year’s crackdown on protesters, rejected the verdict in a statement sent to AFP.
He said, “No country is free from corruption. But corruption must be investigated in a way that is not itself corrupt. The ACC has failed that test today.”
His Awami League party said in a statement sent to the Associated Press news agency that the verdict was “completely predictable”, and that Bangladesh’s anti-corruption watchdog was “a political mechanism used for political purposes”.
Siddiq, MP for London’s Hampstead and Highgate constituency, has yet to comment publicly, but has previously dismissed the allegations as “politically motivated smears”.
The relationship with his aunt led him to resign in January as the minister responsible for Britain’s financial services and anti-corruption efforts, saying the investigation into the relationship was becoming a “distraction from the work of the government”.
His resignation came after Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s ethics adviser investigated Siddiq’s ties to his aunt’s regime, which found he had not breached the ministerial code, but recommended that Starmer reconsider his responsibilities, the PA media news agency reported.
The UK has no extradition treaty with Bangladesh.
Prosecutor Hasan said authorities would contact the UK government through Bangladesh’s Foreign Ministry regarding Siddiq’s decision.
Prosecutors said Siddiq was tried as a Bangladeshi citizen, with authorities saying he had obtained a Bangladeshi passport, national identity card and tax number for the British MP, the AP reported.
But Siddiq has denied the claim and said that he is a British citizen and does not hold Bangladeshi citizenship.
On Thursday, another court sentenced Hasina in absentia to 21 years in jail in separate cases related to the same township project, finding her guilty of illegally acquiring plots of land in a Dhaka development for herself and her family despite being ineligible.
In one case, Hasina’s son and daughter were also sentenced to five years in jail by the court.
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